As someone who has navigated the tumultuous waters of online fandom, I find the story of Fake Tegan and her impact on Tegan and Sara deeply resonant. It brings back memories of my own experiences with fans, both the wonderful and the harrowing ones. The desire to connect with our idols, to feel a sense of belonging in a community, can often cloud our judgment and make us susceptible to manipulation, as we see in this case.

During the 2000s, followers of the queer indie-pop group Tegan and Sara started getting messages and emails directly from Tegan Quin, one of the twin sisters who make up the band.

In the early 2000s, it wasn’t unthinkable for fans to believe that Tegan might send an email. After all, not everyone back then was as wary of suspicious online activity as we are today. Tegan and Sara were quite active online, with their official website, Tumblr, Facebook, and message boards all buzzing with activity. Their followers would share concert videos and messages of support about their shared lesbian and queer identities, fostering a tight-knit community that often served as a safe space where they could discuss topics they couldn’t in real life.

Some individuals who got these messages not only responded but also found their interactions evolving into deep friendships that endured for years. They received casual, genuine-looking photos and gained intimate knowledge about the Quins. On occasion, the chats took a sexual turn, and certain fans were even given access to unreleased music.

However, it wasn’t actually Tegan who sent the messages. Instead, a person pretending to be her took advantage of the faith and vulnerability of her fans. This imposter, often referred to as Fake Tegan or Fegan by the band and those close to them, continued this deceit for an astonishing 16 years.

As a passionate cinephile, I’m eagerly sharing insights about a captivating film titled “Fanatical: The Catfishing of Tegan and Sara,” skillfully directed by Erin Lee Carr, who has previously impressed us with masterpieces like “Britney vs Spears” and “At the Heart of Gold.” In this compelling documentary, Carr, alongside Tegan herself, delve deep into the world of Fake Tegan’s victims. We trace the footsteps of the scammer, meticulously investigating to unmask the individual who has cast a shadow over Tegan, Sara, and their close circle for more than a decade.

“The Con”

College student Julie discovered Tegan and Sara’s music during a time when she was grappling with her queer identity and feeling scared and isolated. The band’s music, along with their supportive fan community, became an essential source of comfort for her. In 2008, another fan shared a Facebook link that seemed to belong to one of the band members. To her astonishment, Julie sent a message to the profile and received a response—it was indeed from Tegan herself!

In due course, Julie and the profile owner were frequently messaging each other. It turned out that Julie discovered Tegan and Sara’s mother had been diagnosed with breast cancer – a fact not disclosed to the public. As Julie expresses, “This friendship developed into something long-term at a time when I found it particularly comforting,” in the book Fanatical.

3 years ago, Julie was conversing with someone pretending to be ‘Tegan’, when the deception was exposed. In 2011, a fake account named Fake Tegan sent Julie a link to a drive containing passport scans of Tegan, Sara, and their team members. Perplexed and worried, Julie contacted a friend who knew the band’s management to inquire about the drive. The response was blunt: Tegan had no knowledge of Julie.

At the given moment, Piers Henwood, who was part of the band’s management team, verified that the person Julie had been conversing with – exchanging personal anecdotes, casual photos, and other intimate aspects of their online friendship – was not one of her beloved musicians. Instead, it turned out to be a deceitful stranger.

“Walking With a Ghost”

It wasn’t long before it was evident how far Fake Tegan’s influence extended: this imitator appeared to possess a wide array of personal information such as music, photographs, identification documents, home addresses, legitimate email accounts, and even details about family health records.

In the book “Fanatical”, Kim Persley, a former member of Tegan and Sara’s management team, admits that there was a lack of expertise in protecting people online. The team posted on the band’s official website that Tegan and Sara were not sending emails to fans personally. Almost right away, they began receiving messages from several individuals who had been communicating with someone falsely claiming to be Tegan.

Henwood, Persley, along with other band associates, started investigating the individual behind the false Tegan accounts, but met with limited progress. Simultaneously, the confidentiality of the shared information caused the sisters to ponder if the hacker could potentially be a familiar and trusted figure. Besides them, Tegan’s tattoo artist Rene Both and her then-photographer girlfriend, Lindsey Byrnes, also became targets.

In the movie, Sara says, “If we were a home, I would have thought someone was just outside. But then I understood they had come inside with us.

Moving along with Fanatical, we follow Tegan and Sara’s career journey, revealing the underlying rhythm of doubt and apprehension that accompanied their achievements. In the movie, Tegan confesses, “I felt so targeted.” She adds, “It was distressing to harbor suspicions towards people I cared about deeply.

“Don’t Believe the Things They Tell You (They Lie)”

Investigating a web of red herrings (which left some viewers equally bewildered as it did Tegan and Sara’s team, despite the film’s attempts to clarify), Fervent details how Henwood and Persley chased one suspect after another, eventually hitting brick walls. They reached out to the police, who said they lacked sufficient evidence to bring criminal charges. Throughout this process, they remained puzzled about what private information could be circulating and listened to more accounts of those affected.

One of Fake Tegan’s victims, artist JT, shows the long-term effects of the deception. Growing up with hardships, JT found comfort in Vancouver’s music scene for the LGBTQ+ community. At some point, she was part of a similar close-knit group as Tegan and Sara. JT had even exchanged emails with Tegan in reality. Therefore, when JT emailed Tegan after a pause in their communication, not realizing the email account had been hacked, she began conversing unknowingly with a fake Tegan.

Initially, their chat became playful and suggestive, then sexual. However, when JT proposed a meeting via email after Tegan visited the area, she was either dismissed or ignored. Perplexed, JT concluded what seemed like a connection of some kind. Similar to others following a break-up, she vented her annoyance, both privately and publicly, until the news eventually reached Tegan. Shocked to discover that the swindler had been up to more deceit, this time targeting someone she personally knew, Tegan informed Henwood. He then contacted JT to expose the fake Tegan.

Initially deceived and offended, JT found it hard to trust Henwood. In her mind, it was his responsibility to safeguard Tegan, not hers. “Back then I was just a naive teenager,” explains JT in ‘Fanatical.’ “I felt powerless. So what do you do? You have to stand up for yourself.” Her persistent claim that she had been communicating with Tegan caused her to be ostracized from the community that had once provided her shelter. “I don’t want to be in LGBTQ+ spaces, even now I don’t,” she says in the film.

Towards the movie’s conclusion, JT and Tegan share a tense yet impactful reunion. “We’ve both been wronged by the same individual, and that shadow lingers over us,” Tegan remarks. With their discussion wrapping up, they exchange a warm hug.

“Closer”

The group responsible for Fanatical analyzed more than 2,000 communications between at least one false Tegan and numerous fans, which were exchanged over a span of sixteen years. These narratives varied from uncomfortable to distressing, and it appeared that many of them revolved around the same individual.

As an ardent fan of the series, I’ve often found myself engaged in heated debates within online communities, particularly when it comes to my unique take on the twins’ romantic dynamics in fanfiction. I’ve been quite vocal about this unconventional portrayal, and unfortunately, this has led to some intense disagreements with fellow fans.

In “Fanatical,” Carr and Tegan engage in a tense phone call with someone identified as “Tara.” Their goal is to reveal that she’s actually Fake Tegan, but instead, she evades and counters their arguments, stirring up contention and suggesting that Tegan hasn’t been affected by the impersonation. Whether “Tara” genuinely thinks fame makes Tegan invulnerable or is merely seeking conflict – whether she’s Fake Tegan or a highly upset fan – the conversation underscores how ambition for connection can turn sour.

In the article “Fanatical“, Tegan expresses her genuine pride towards the Tegan and Sara community and their fans. However, she acknowledges a challenging aspect: sometimes, those who appear to admire and be deeply invested in you can also be the most unkind, harsh, and unpleasant, particularly in online spaces.

For many years, celebrities have had to cope with a wide spectrum of fan actions, ranging from uncomfortable to harmful. More recently, queer artist Chappell Roan has sparked controversy by establishing strict boundaries in an effort to curb an escalating trend of stalking and invasion—a type of conduct that our society often feels remorseful about only after it has already negatively impacted someone’s life. The term “Stans,” which refers to either overzealous fans or fans who exhibit the level of obsession as portrayed in Eminem’s song “Stan,” is well-known. Works such as Kaitlyn Tiffany’s “Everything I Need I Get From You” and Carr’s own “Britney vs Spears” delve into both the positive and negative aspects of fandom.

It seems redundant that we repeatedly need to re-learn these facts; why don’t we retain them more effectively? The term ‘obsessive’ may bring to mind our recent discussions on the unhealthy aspects of obsessive fandom, digital relationships with celebrities, and idol worship – topics we will undoubtedly revisit before returning to our chaotic online behavior patterns.

The universal nature of deception and counterfeits is what makes this movie particularly relevant in today’s context. In the time since Fake Tegan started interacting with Tegan and Sara fans, we have all garnered enough fame to be imitated online. Our accounts have been hacked or cloned, causing our friends to panic over bitcoin and unauthorized Ozempic sales. We discover that our email passwords have been leaked on the dark web (though we’re not entirely sure what that entails). We even receive Facebook friend requests from deceased relatives.

In the novel “Fanatical“, Tegan expresses her hesitation about revealing her story after concealing ‘Fake Tegan’ for 16 years. “There’s a risk that doing so could spawn a fresh wave of ‘Fake Tegans’, or impostors in general. We all have the potential to fall victim to such deceit.

Sara remarks, “We’d like to think we’re different from those who commit such actions, and also from those easily fooled by them. However, the reality is that we share many characteristics. This realization, I believe, unsettles us all.

It’s surprising how often longing for authentic connections and a sense of vulnerability can make people, including Julie and JT, potential victims of deceitful schemes such as Fake Tegan’s con. Interestingly, these very feelings that were exploited by the scammer are not uncommon in our society.

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2024-10-18 22:07